A Closure
by life-is-my-tardis
Summary: The last time Harry had ever seen his Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, and cousin Dudley had been during their uncomfortable parting, shortly before his seventeenth birthday. But surely, after sixteen solid years of sharing the same home, four people can't just forget each other.


**I'm finally starting to move some of my other fics from other sites onto this one. This story I wrote years ago and posted to MuggleNet's fanfiction archive, and it's actually the first fanfiction piece I ever wrote. **

Harry Potter was madly in love with Ginevra Weasley. Of course, his best friends Ron and Hermione were extremely important to him, but since the lift of the smothering darkness that had gripped the Wizarding world exactly a year ago, Ginny had sort-of become the thing that tied him to Earth. At the moment, they were enjoying a few happy minutes alone in a pleasant restaurant in London, soon to be joined by Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood for a celebratory dinner. They often all got together often these days. Ron and Hermione usually joined them, but today happened to be their one-year anniversary of when they first started dating, (which also meant today was the one-year anniversary of the day Harry defeated Voldemort, but he tried not to think about that) so they were spending their evening alone. Harry and Ginny were now sitting together in a booth facing the front door, sharing a drink, and enjoying each other's presence. They always went to Muggle restaurants anytime they went out. If they visited any place in the Wizarding world, they were always recognized and swamped by countless witches and wizards, who were seemingly oblivious to the fact that the young-and-in-love couple only wanted some time alone. This particular over-air-conditioned eatery was only about half a block down from the Leaky Cauldron, so they spotted one or two familiar faces in the hustle and bustle outside the window, but for now, they were safe from unwanted attention.

Harry leaned close to Ginny, breathing her in. Their hands were entwined under the table.

"Is it just me, or is it unnecessarily cold in here?" he asked quietly, considering putting his jacket back on.

"I can think of a way to warm you up," Ginny said coyly, sliding closer to him.

"Oh, can you?" He grinned.

"Mhmm," she murmured, sliding her nose along his jaw line slowly. When her lips were only inches from his, two figures in his peripheral vision caught his eye, and he looked around.

His mouth fell open. Dudley and Petunia Dursley had just entered the front doors, and a waitress was beginning to escort them to a table. Ginny, not oblivious to his sudden distraction, followed his gaze and noticed the beefy young man and horsy woman who were following the waitress in their direction. Probably because of his many stories and descriptions of his only living family members, Ginny seemed to recognize them.

"Is that..." she began.

"Yeah," Harry said thickly, his utter shock making it difficult for his brain to function properly. As soon as his aunt and cousin were in earshot, he blurted out, "Dudley? Aunt Petunia?"

When they spotted him, his own amazement and surprise were reflected on their faces. Neither party knew what to say. After all, they had not seen each other in two years, and their parting had not necessarily been comfortable after sixteen solid years of dislike. Aunt Petunia's eyes darted between Harry and Ginny, who were still sitting very close together, and their intertwined hands, clearly putting two and two together. Dudley looked a little embarrassed. Perhaps he was remembering their awkward goodbye nearly two years ago, or maybe he'd never learned how exactly one should interact with a person whom he had bullied-all-his-life-and-then-parted-ways-with-because-the-most-dangerous-dark-wizard-of-all-time-may-have-gone-after-him-about-two-years-after-said-person-saved-his-life-from-soul-sucking-magical-creatures. Harry sure hadn't. Finally, after an encouraging nudge of the elbow from Ginny, Harry cleared his throat and stood up.

"Er-Aunt Petunia, Dudley," he said politely, pulling Ginny up with him, "It's, er, nice to see you. This is my girlfriend, Ginny Weasley. Ginny, this is my aunt and cousin." Ginny smiled warmly, and held out her hand to them, but neither of them shook it. Ginny's eyes twinkled, and Harry knew she was almost a little pleased that all that he had told her about them seemed to be true. "We're celebrating a friend's success tonight." Another slight draft indicated the front doors had opened again, and in walked Uncle Vernon, and to Harry's immense displeasure, Aunt Marge. Following behind them were Neville and Luna.

"Marge is visiting," Petunia said curtly. "We're having a dinner out."

Vernon and Marge lumbered up, apparently confused as to why Petunia and Dudley had not yet found a table. Then their eyes fell on Harry and the fiery young woman who was leaning into his side.

"You must be Vernon Dursley," Ginny said, giving a very convincing show of delight, and holding out her hand again. "I'm Ginny Weasley, Harry's girlfriend. It's so wonderful to finally meet you." Uncle Vernon was purple in the face. He mouthed wordlessly at Harry and Ginny, who both couldn't help but grin at his helplessness.

"You!" Marge bellowed. Harry had known it was coming. At their previous meeting, he had accidentally lost control of his temper, and his much-hated Aunt had inflated until she was a great bouncing balloon on the ceiling. Of course, that particular incident had been wiped from her memory, but her dislike for him most definitely still lingered. "So, they finally let you out of that school for criminals, did they?" she rumbled irritably.

"Er-yes," Harry said, his mind working quickly to remember the false story that had been invented so many years ago to cover for his attendance at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. "I've seen the error of my ways, and, uh, shaped up," he said, unable to hold back his smirk.

"I wouldn't believe it," Marge said, shaking her head, but Neville and Luna had arrived in their midst, cutting her off.

"Harry! Ginny!" Neville greeted them, looking extremely confused by their company.

"Hullo," Luna said dreamily, stepping in front of Neville, and gazing around at Harry's awkward family members. "Luna Lovegood. Who are you?" She smiled sweetly, and like Ginny, was not affronted by their lack of response. Uncle Vernon seemed horrified by the additions to the already unexpected reunion. He took in Luna's long, dirty blonde hair, earrings of small, radish-like Derigible Plums and necklace of butterbeer corks. His eyes then glanced over Neville, who's face and arms bore scars and unmistakable marks of torture (inflicted by the Carrows the previous year), and once again, his horrific expectations of the kinds of nutters wizards must be were confirmed.

"These are our friends, Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood. Neville just got hired as... as a teacher." Harry explained carefully. Luna looked at him fondly, and Ginny managed to give him a congratulatory hug, though the space between tables had become rather crowded.

"At what school?" Aunt Marge barked, but Harry cut in this time.

"Well, we don't want to keep you from your dinner," he said, ushering his companions into their seats at the booth. Aunt Marge didn't need a second invitation to leave. She left the rest of her family in the dust in search of a table. Now Harry was left with only his Aunt, Uncle, and cousin. After a moment of silence, Uncle Vernon, still purple in the face, finally spoke.

"So…so you won, then?" he asked, not meeting Harry's eyes. Harry knew he was referring to the war with "Lord Voldy-thing."

"Yes," Harry answered. "You got to move back in, didn't you?" None of them answered. "I'm lucky," Harry added quietly. "I have beautiful, loving friends, and I couldn't have done it without them."

"You... you seem..." Dudley began to speak, just as awkwardly as he had been two summers ago, "You seem... happy, Harry." Harry smiled. His cousin usually wasn't very perceptive, but he apparently paid attention when it counted.

"Yeah, yeah I am, Big D."

"Well," Uncle Vernon said, actually reaching out to shake Harry's hand, "Goodbye, then." And he and his son followed Aunt Marge away.

"Your friend, he's a teacher at your school?" Aunt Petunia asked very quietly.

"Yes, he was just hired to be a student teacher for Pomona Sprout. Apparently the staff always wanted Neville to come back to the school. Hogwarts is where he belongs." Her expression was already cold, but at the mention of Hogwarts, she looked downright angry.

"That school," she muttered furiously to herself, turning to leave. Suddenly, Harry realized what she was thinking about.

"Look," he said determinedly, before she could scurry away. "I know that when you were young you thought that the magical world, and Hogwarts, and Severus Snape stole your sister away from you." She froze, clearly shocked by his words and what he knew. "And I know you were jealous. But you should know that Lily always wanted you to be able to come with her into the wizarding world. And I know that it would kill her if she knew that you still had a grudge against people like us only because she and Snape found the letter from Dumbledore that said you couldn't be accepted at Hogwarts. Please forgive her." She spun around to stare at him, her face completely pale, obviously stunned that he knew about all this. After a short moment of silence, he said, "You took me in for sixteen years. I can't go without thanking you. And I would be okay if we kept in touch."

Aunt Petunia nodded once, and then without another word, turned and hurried after her family.

When Harry slid back into the booth with his friends, sliding his arm around Ginny, they all looked at him with slight confusion.

"What was that, Harry?" Neville asked, completely clueless about the encounter.

"A closure, I think," Harry said, and he smiled, raising his glass. "Now, to Neville Longbottom, soon-to-be the best Herbology teacher Hogwarts has ever seen!"

"To Neville!"


End file.
